30gal Reef setup

[Cichlid-Man]

Well as some of you know i am setting up a 30gal long reef tank to replace my 2.5 as my main reef tank. Here is my plan right now. I'm building my own stand for the tank, and possibly a canopy. The canopy is not a must though so that will wait.

The Hardware
Tank: AGA 30gal long (36x12x16)
Filter: AC70 with fuge mod from 2.5gal
Water Movement: 2-3 Maxijet powerheads (900s?)
Lighting: 2 150w MH 14k

The Tank
-Enough sand for a 1-2" Sandbed
-30-40lb LR (Depending on pieces, etc)

Livestock (Fish)
-1 Flame Angel
-2 Clowns (Black percs)
-A goby of some sort

Livestock (Coral)
-Transfer from the 2.5 (Zoas/LPS/Softies)
-Various SPS

Clean Up Crew
-Mostly snails
-Just a couple Scarlet Hermits

Anyone have any comments/opinions on the powerheads and HOB filter(s)? Better options? Eventually i'd like to run a HOB skimmer on the tank, but like the canopy it will be an upgrade down the road a little. I'll be posting a detailed photo journal of sorts, especially while i build the stand. Pending any delays the tank will be on the stand by Sunday.

The fish list is in the air. I REALLY want the Flame Angel, so thats pretty much a lock in. Other fish to go with it are the ones in question, suggestions welcome.

 

[TheFool]

You asked for comments, you get ......

The Hardware
Tank: AGA 30gal long (36x12x16). <Good size, shame it's so narrow. Get it drilled incase you want to sump down the road (you will.....)>
Filter: AC70 with fuge mod from 2.5gal <For? A fuge that might have been half worth the bother on a 2.5 is going to be worth squat on a 30. Good for carbon , rowaphos tho>
Water Movement: 2-3 Maxijet powerheads (900s?)<. No 1200's, and at least 3. I assume that nano tunzes are crazyt expensive in the US?>
Lighting: 2 150w MH 14k<At 3 feet in lengh 2 * MH is not strictly necessary. However if you want high light SPS it's an option, as is a single 250, which is likely what I would do>

The Tank
-Enough sand for a 1-2" Sandbed. <<Why 1 to 2 inches? Detritus trap at that middling depthLess than 1, more than 4 is my rule of thumb. If you're really going SPS nuts consider barebottom + sand bed sump also>>
-30-40lb LR (Depending on pieces, etc)

Livestock (Fish)
-1 Flame Angel - nice, look at the others tho. I saw an amazing almost all purple coral beauty not so long ago...
-2 Clowns (Black percs).
-A goby of some sort

Livestock (Coral)
-Transfer from the 2.5 (Zoas/LPS/Softies)
-Various SPS - Don't go bonkers with acros at the start, try something easy first. Captive bred are always a stack easier than wilds

I would certainly drill the tank upfront to keep my option up down the road. At 30 gallons you'll find that doing water changes to keep up water quality is a p.i.t.a., so consider a skimmer very strongly, and get a decent one. SPS are not going to be especially forgiving. If you don't want a skimmer then consider an algae fuge (you'll be glad you've drilled then).
Also you need to consider denitrafication - again algae, or a deep sand bed are the easy ways, and either that will be in your display, or in a sump/fuge.
If you are going SPS, then 30 pounds of rock is plenty as it's not an especially big tank, and once you get some growth it will soon start to fill up. So don't jam it with rock anyway - your sand, plus whatever you do i nany sump will keep your aerobic biofilt up.
What are you planning to do for Ca addition?

 

[TRe]

good luck*thumbsups

 

[Cichlid-Man]

The fuge is more like a mini fuge just to house Cheato so it won't get into the display and maybe house some pods, but other then that its nothing fancy. It also allows me to add carbon/sponges to catch solid wastes/etc. Also houses the heater (which i didn't list). Why would it be squat? Same concept correct? Just on a smaller scale and HOB.

The deep sand bed is just a personal preference i guess, always liked deep sand beds, hate BBs in saltwater. Maybe i'll finish up the bag of Aragonite i have and see how it looks.

2 MHs because they typically only cover 2' of space, 1 will leave shadows and while it might give a cool effect for a while, it will limit coral placement down the road.

Yes tunzes are expensive. B-Ionic 2 part for Ca?

As for the skimmer i'm kind of waiting to see if my dad tears down his 55gal like he was thinking about, so the skimmer will come later. It will give me the chance to establish the tank before SPS anyway. My first SPS will be different types of Montis, then possibly step up to Acros.

Drilling would be nice for the tank, but i don't know of anyone in town that does it and i don't want to take the chance myself. I have an extra 10gal that would fit under the stand for a sump/fuge. Just don't know of anyone who can drill tanks.

Thanks for the comments/suggestions, keep em coming!

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Acctually i might of just found a place where i can get the tank drilled. Question is, where should the holes be on the back (Like how high or far apart, etc)? Its a 16" high panel including the black trim thats like 1".

So if i got the tank drilled, how would i close the holes until i am ready for a sump? Is there a way?

 

[Brack-Man]

Matt, the easy way to do that would be to drill at the top, similar to what TRe just did, unfortunately he has no pics up yet. Drill the holes/holes about 3" down from the bottom of the trim, install your bulkhead/s, put a peice of PVC with a cap on it into the bulkheadf to seal it off till your ready to use. Since your tank is so narrow, I would consider doing an external overflow, try googling Calfo overflows, there are several styles of these and I think that it may work best for your application.

Everything else sounds great to me, good luck

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Thanks for the suggestion. Only problem with doing an external overflow is its like another tank behind my tank and i don't want that bulk, don't have room for that bulk really...

I'm looking into doing a "horizontal overflow" now that will fit inside the tank towards the top with the 1-2 (?) holes drilled behind it that lead down to my sump. Now i just need to decide do i want it on the Middle, left or right...thinking middle to balance the tank and not look odd? And with only 16" of tank its not going to be very deep or wide, got to do some measuring but its what i'm leaning towards right now.

Here is what i'm thinking sump wise. This is not including a insump skimmer, will teak it if i i get an insump skimmer. Front glass panel off to show everything, and the first baffle goes all the way to the bottem. The return is on the left (yes thats a pump ) and the intake is on the right. The intake will be filled with LR rubble.

Ideas/suggestions/comments? Remember, that does not include an insump skimmer.

Would only 1 return to my tank be fine? I figure that plus some powerheads should give me decent flow. Well, tell me what y'all think! As much as my head hurts from all this plumbing its MUCH more enjoyable then FW...i think i might have a new "dark side" in mind.

 

[Brack-Man]

Looks pretty good, though I might change 2 things...hehe, 1st, make you fuge area a little smaller and your return section a little bigger, remember your evap will show up in your return section, so the bigger it is the less topping off you'll have to do. 2nd- That 3rd baffle you have, the one on the return side is kinda useless as well as being a micro-bubble producer, you can actually do away with it and just use the other 2 like you have them drawn and it will work just fine.

My $00.02
BM

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I think i've decided to go with a coast to coast horizontal overflow (calfo) in the tank, though as small as i can make it. Spanning the length of the tank makes up for depth or width right? Going to have at least 2 holes drilled. I'm planning for it to be a few inches by a few inches in terms of depth (height) and width and 36" long just below the waters surface to get a nice thin skim.

Pretty much exactly like this (Halfway down the page posted by Jake2045) Reef Central Online Community - Calfo Style Overflow boxes

 

[aresgod]

I would recommend getting a 40 gallon breeder, more room to aquascape, same length, more width, I also have a 36" sunpod 2 X 150 watt MH setup, if my 40 gallon breeder doesn't sell in the next few days, I would be parting the whole tank out (LR, skimmer, lighting, corals, tank, stand, etc...) there is a thread concerning everything on the tank listed under "Full blown reef for sale" let me know if your interested, SC isn't too far away!

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Haha, far enough. Its to bad too, you have a nice setup.

I was originally thinking 40breeder but when i got to looking at my room i wasn't sure i could really fit one comfortably in there. I love the footprint but i already have the 30.

 

[aresgod]

fair enough, it sounds like a good plan, and should be a nice tank.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

And so it begins...Sump and plumbing...your next!

(Lights above the tank will not function as the tank's lights)

 

[TRe]

you could hav definitly fit a 40 *crazysmil

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Length wise, but i didn't want it sticking out any further (well i did for coral but not for my room). The other side of the stand (Close to a foot) will be used as a table like area where i can frag or hold test kits and what not so i don't have to store everything ontop of other tanks.

 

[TheFool]

This should look good. The reason I said the little fuge was worth squat is that as a fuge it is just too small to have much real effect.

A 2inch sand bed is not likely to really function as a deep sand bed, or not reliably. It's kind of an annoying no mans land depth.

It's up to you if you have 1 or 2 MH over that tank - one can work perfectly well if you pull it up a couple of inches. I would honestly just get a single 250 if it were me, and SPS.

I would encourage you to look for a sump based skimmer. They are basically better than HOB's as any HOB design is a compromise design. Also insumps usually run cheaper, especially used - the demand for used HOBS is so much higher than ugly insumps.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Thanks.

For the lighting. How much hotter is a 250w going to run over a single 150w? While i don't want my tank to boil i don't want my room to boil either. Is there much of a difference in heat? Also is a single 250w going to be brighter then 2 150s? Price i'm not worried about, a 250kit is only $10 more.